Pelayo

Pelayo (685-737), also known as Pelagius, was King of Asturias from 718 to 737, succeeding Fafila of Asturias. Pelayo founded the Kingdom of Asturias in response to the Umayyad Caliphate's conquest of much of the Iberian Peninsula, and Pelayo's victory at the Battle of Covadonga in 718 is considered to be the starting point of the Reconquista of Spain from the Moors.

Biography
Pelayo was born in 685 to Dux Fafila of Gallaecia, who was killed by King Wittiza of the Visigoths. He was exiled from Toledo in 702 after Wittiza became King of Spain, and it was during this time that Berber governor Munuza took a liking to his sister, sending Tariq ibn Ziyad to capture him. Pelayo rebelled against the Moors seven years after they conquered the Iberian Peninsula from the Christian kingdoms in 711, and he defeated the Moors at the Battle of Covadonga. Pelayo established his capital at Cangas de Onis, and he founded the Kingdom of Asturias as the sole Christian kingdom remaining in the peninsula. Pelayo led the reconquest of much of northwestern Spain from the Moors, and after he died in 737, Fafila of Asturias succeeded him.